Kroger said it has reached an agreement to buy 18 supermarkets in Las Vegas.

        Kroger, the nation's biggest food retailer, would not say what it is paying for the 18 Raley's Supermarket stores, saying only it expects to complete the deal within a month. It said it will place the stores, which average 46,000 square feet, under its Smith's or Food 4 Less banners.

        Kroger owns 19 Smith's and five Food 4 Less stores in the Las Vegas area.

        Scotts to shut plant in England

        Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Co. will shut a plant in Bramford, England, as the maker of Turf Builder fertilizer and Miracle-Gro plant food restructures its international operations. About 70 people may lose their jobs.

        Related costs are expected to reduce results in the fourth quarter ending Sept. 30 by $4 million to $6 million, mostly because of the plant closing, Scotts said in a statement. Production at the Bramford fertilizer plant will be shifted to a plant in Goole, England.

        Since neither of those sites was at capacity, “the thought is to bring them together and operate them at capacity,” spokesman Jim King said in an interview.

        Legget & Platt plans a new path

        Furniture maker Leggett & Platt Inc. plans to idle an Ohio plant and sell or close four others. The company also plans to acquire the carpet cushion business of Foamex International.

        Leggett & Platt said it will idle a commercial fixture plant in Wooster, Ohio, that employs 100 workers and makes parts for the telecommunications industry.

        Leggett & Platt will sell the Culp Aluminum Alloys plant in Steele, Ala., to Wabash Alloys of Wabash, Ind., and an aluminum tool-and-die plant in Oakdale, Minn., to an undisclosed purchaser.

        Wabash said it will retain all 60 employees of Culp Aluminum. The Oakdale plant also employs 60 people.

        The company is negotiating to sell an unidentified aluminum die-cast plant and plans to idle another undisclosed plant.

        - From staff and wire reports

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